Educators and parents Ben McFarlane and Billinda Connolly-Tevendale are former colleagues, both with kids deeply involved in sport in Rotorua.

McFarlane’s three sons are heavily involved in football, basketball, volleyball and rowing.

Connolly-Tevendale’s teens are involved in athletics as well as playing football and volleyball.

Like many Kiwi parents, they are constantly juggling work, school pickups, training sessions, and long weekends at tournaments, all while trying to keep their kids fed, focused, healthy and doing well at school.

They share similar frustrations at the lack of pre-prepared nutritious food that can be served on-the-run; and they have long discussions about resilience, habits, mental skills and the best way to support youth athletes.

Those shared interests have sparked the creation of FYA — Fueling Youth Athletes, with a mission to support the whole youth athlete — body and mind — and their parents.

Their vision is to help families raise not just talented players, but healthy humans, equipped with the habits, knowledge and resilience they’ll need for life.

First up is the knowledge side, with the launch of a Facebook group for conversation and connection, encouraging parents to ask questions about sports parenting, nutrition, training, sleep, mindset, and other challenges of sport-filled family life.

They have a free weekly email newsletter (called Friday Fuel), and they’ve started a podcast called The Game Changer to bring the voices of global experts to families.

A food line is still in the works. Instead of waiting till they’ve developed the perfect products, they’re sharing the process as they go.

Ben McFarlane and Billinda Connolly-Tevendale are working on getting it right, including testing samples on their own kids.

“We talk about fuelling in two ways,” says Connolly-Tevendale. “Fuel for the body through food. And fuel for the mind through trusted, expert information. You can’t be mentally tough if you’re physically depleted — and you can’t be physically consistent if your mindset isn’t right.”

“Parenting a youth athlete is hard,” she says.

“Unless you’ve been through it, how do you know when to push and when to back off? How do you support your kid when they’re dropped from a team, or burned out, or hungry all the time and not eating well?

“There’s a lot of guesswork and lots of misinformation. So we thought, let’s cut through all that. Let’s go directly to the experts, and share what we learn about the role of the parent in all of this.”

How it started

McFarlane’s a familiar face in Rotorua football. He’s coached at every level of junior and youth football, founded an academy, sat on committees, merged two clubs, run in-school programmes across the city, was named WaiBOP Coach of the Year in 2022 and then became a director of football.

Despite all that experience, he still found himself struggling to keep up with the demands of fueling his own kids properly.

With three sport-obsessed boys, his routine for years has been time-squeezed: meals in the car ride to and from trainings and games, and travel over the region as his boys got involved in academy and rep teams for different sports in different cities.

“Feeding them right was harder than it should have been,” he says.

“There was no time, no storage at school, and almost nothing at the supermarket that felt like real food. My boys were losing their spark, and I could see it in the kids I coached too.

“Some were hungry, some were tired, and some just hadn’t been fueled to perform.”

The real shift came when McFarlane’s wife was diagnosed with cancer in 2024. That’s when they took a hard look at what they were feeding the family.

“We were fuelling them with junk. Not always but definitely when it got busy. I knew it wasn’t right. But I also knew we weren’t the only ones.”

Connolly-Tevendale was having the same realisation. Despite being present and involved, she felt her kids were underfed in all the ways that mattered. Too often, dinner was in the form of takeaways. Snacks were sugary and fast. Convenience was king.

“It hit me — we weren’t fuelling their dreams. We were just getting by.”

Facebook Live and podcasts — fueling the mind

Connolly-Tevendale started live calls during the COVID-19 lockdown, connecting fans with their favourite TV stars from shows such as Yellowstone, House of the Dragon and Virgin River, and allowing them to ask their own questions.

She’s excited about bringing the concept into the sports realm. “Young players and families, especially in more isolated places, don’t often get access to those working at the highest level and it’s a real buzz for both sides when they connect.”

They plan to feature a number of live calls along with their prerecorded podcast.

So far, The Game Changer Podcast has featured guests including Johan Cruyff’s son-in-law Todd Beane from TOVO Academy, global sports expert Wayne Goldsmith, and Lisa Carrington’s mental performance coach, David Galbraith.

Upcoming guests include mental skills coach Erik Panzer, and youth sports nutritionist Dr Katie Schofield.

They’ve covered topics such as parenting through pressure, coaching mindset, maximising potential and long-term athletic development.

“It’s been phenomenal talking to these people. Take Wayne for example — he has 30 years of experience at the highest echelon of sport but also an absolute passion for helping sporting parents. Why would you not tap into that?

“I’ve heard a lot of people in sport moan about parents and say that parents should just get out of the way. But that is never going to happen — parents are so invested in their children that they will always be there, they just need education about what their role in the journey actually is. And that is what we want to help with,” Connolly-Tevendale says.

Upcoming they have a series of short bite-sized podcasts on football performance with mental skills coach Panzer, and nutritionist Schofield.

They’ve locked in Olympian Sarah Cowley-Ross and her mum, Robyn, for a look at what it takes to create an Olympic athlete from the point of view of the parent and the athlete, and they hint at the possibility of some big name athletes coming in the future.

In July 2025, they’ll feature a live Virtual Fan Event with Auckland FC and New Zealand international defender Francis de Vries.

“Francis has this amazing story of resilience over a long period of time, essentially willing himself into being a professional. He didn’t make rep teams as a youngster, has been dropped from a number of sides, yet kept working and found a way.

“He’s a super nice guy to boot and will be a great interview, bringing insight into what it takes to make it and what his day-to-day life as a professional and international player looks like.”

Bringing in the experts to fuel the body

To design a line of whole food nutrition products for youth athletes, they’ve teamed with an expert, Dr Katie Schofield. She is a former elite cyclist and sports scientist with deep expertise in Low Energy Availability (LEA) and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S).

McFarlane says their food products will be practical, portable and purposeful, without any nasties.

“Some of the stats coming out around what our teenagers are eating are pretty scary. Studies are showing that between 70-80% of what they eat is ultra-processed food,” he says.

“Short-term that simply can’t nourish a teen who is training, playing, growing, and expected to study and be focused at school, but long-term the health consequences can be catastrophic.”

“Our goal isn’t just better snacks,” says Connolly-Tevendale.

“It’s better outcomes. For the kids who want to chase a dream, and for the parents trying to figure it all out along the way. We want to make sure they’re fuelled for the journey.”

“We’re not just talking about food,” McFarlane says.

“We’re about fuelling kids for life and helping parents understand what actually leads to long-term success.”

Fueling Youth Athletes Sports Parenting for Success

How to get involved

READ: Weekly Newsletter — Click here to sign up to Friday Fuel newsletter >>>>

WATCH: YouTube channel — Click here to watch podcast interviews >>>>

LISTEN: Spotify — Click here to listen to podcast interviews >>>>

ENGAGE: Facebook Group >>>>

FOLLOW: Instagram >>>>

Francis de Vries. Photo: Shane Wenzlick / Phototek.

How to learn from Francis de Vries

To directly ask a question of All White and Auckland FC player Francis de Vries, you can register for this FREE virtual Q&A here >>>>

Article added: Tuesday 1 July 2025